This invention relates to a THz transceiver, i.e. emitter and/or receiver of radiation in a THz regime. The THz regime is commonly defined as the range from 300 GHz to 10 THz, corresponding to wavelengths between 1 mm and 30 μm.
Electronic devices operable at Terahertz (THz) frequencies are desirable in many applications, such as medical applications (imaging), security detection of hostile objects and noxious chemicals, and others. The most common approach for THz generation is based on the use of a low temperature grown GaAs (LTG-GaAs) semiconductor with an appropriate antenna. These are the so-called “photoconductive antennas”, utilizing the property of a photoconductor to respond to incident light by a change (decrease) in its resistance. The photoconductor is excited either by incident coherent light in the form of two beams of different wavelengths (using DFB lasers for example) creating a beat frequency in the THz range, or by an ultra short (picosecond) laser pulses creating ultra wide band THz emission.
The recently developed technique relating to THz emitters is disclosed in the International Patent Publication No. WO 2007/132459, assigned to the assignee of the present application. According to this technique a photoemission based electrodes' assembly (e.g. diode) is used, where photomixing is used for illumination of a photocathode which converts an input light signal into an electrical current in the THz range, which in turn operates a signal transmitter/receiver.